Latest news with #GreatValue
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Walmart warns consumers of incoming price increases
Published: | Updated: Walmart employees say prices are quietly surging on everyday essentials — and they're posting pictures as they swap out price tags. In a string of posts across Reddit, self-identified staffers say they've seen prices jump as much as 80 percent on popular items. One photo shows Hasbro's My Real Baby doll's price surged from $34.97 to $49.97 — a nearly 43 percent increase. Another reported that an eight-ounce canister of Great Value cocoa powder nearly doubled in price — from $3.44 to $6.18. Walmart hasn't responded to request for comment. But the employee posts are likely a peek behind the curtain as companies mount their response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. For months, Walmart has been warning that its consumer prices would likely rise. The giant retailer sources millions of goods from abroad — including importing 60 percent of its goods from China. Right now, President Trump's tariffs are slapping 10 to 30 percent duties on key imports, including food items, toys, and electronics. The current tariffs are lower than the President once predicted: on April 2, Trump said he would impose levies products coming from dozens of countries. Those tariffs ranged anywhere from 10 to 49 percent. China's tariffs eventually ballooned to 145 percent. All of the higher-than-expected tariffs have been temporarily paused while the White House negotiates with major countries around the world. But in American store shelves, owners are starting to tick up prices. 'We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,' the company's CEO, Doug McMillon (pictured), said on the company's most recent earnings call. 'But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.' Trump has vocally opposed the company's price hikes, posting on Truth Social that Walmart should 'eat the tariffs' and threatening that he'll 'be watching.' But Walmart has already been steadily raising some of its prices as suppliers pass on their own higher costs. Rainey said bananas now cost 54 cents a pound, up from 50 cents — an eight percent jump. Retail analysts say that may not sound like much, but if similar increases hit other imported essentials — from produce to clothing, electronics, and home goods — shoppers will feel the pinch fast. Neil Saunders, from Global Data, told 'all categories will be affected by tariffs'. He explained: 'Produce from overseas will be impacted heavily because margins are low and costs need to be passed across.' Meanwhile, Walmart is not alone. revealed two weeks ago that employees at Target had seen big increases in store prices. A Target employee shared a photo as they swapped out a $9.99 price tag on a Heyday brand USB-C cord. The updated price was $17.99, an 80 percent increase. 'It's happening,' the worker wrote, sharing a photo of the price tag update. 'All of Heyday is going up.' In several comments, customers are pointing the finger both at the Trump administration, and at corporate executives for the price hikes. 'I think regardless of tariffs Walmart is capitalizing on the idea that things will be more expensive to pad their profit margins,' one Redditor commented. 'I feel like they did the same thing with the whole COVID thing too.' Before the tariff regime was announced, Walmart said it was already expecting profits to take a hit. In its first quarter earnings call, the company said its customers were starting to show the strain of years of inflation . McMillon reported that the company only expected growth between three and four percent. Last year, Walmart reached above 9 percent growth.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Walmart price hikes exposed as staff leak photos showing shocking increases
Walmart employees say prices are quietly surging on everyday essentials — and they're posting pictures as they swap out price tags. In a string of posts across Reddit, self-identified staffers say they've seen prices jump as much as 80 percent on popular items. One photo shows Hasbro's My Real Baby doll's price surged from $34.97 to $49.97 — a nearly 43 percent increase. Another reported that an eight-ounce canister of Great Value cocoa powder nearly doubled in price — from $3.44 to $6.18. Walmart hasn't responded to request for comment. But the employee posts are likely a peek behind the curtain as companies mount their response to President Donald Trump's tariffs. For months, Walmart has been warning that its consumer prices would likely rise. The giant retailer sources millions of goods from abroad — including importing 60 percent of its goods from China. Walmart's CEO, Doug McMillon, said the company isn't 'able to absorb all the pressure' from tariffs and would have to pass some costs off to customers - President Trump called out the retailer in a social media post Right now, President Trump's tariffs are slapping 10 to 30 percent duties on key imports, including food items, toys, and electronics. The current tariffs are lower than the President once predicted: on April 2, Trump said he would impose levies products coming from dozens of countries. Those tariffs ranged anywhere from 10 to 49 percent. China's tariffs eventually ballooned to 145 percent. All of the higher-than-expected tariffs have been temporarily paused while the White House negotiates with major countries around the world. But in American store shelves, owners are starting to tick up prices. 'We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,' the company's CEO, Doug McMillon, said on the company's most recent earnings call. 'But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.' Trump has vocally opposed the company's price hikes, posting on Truth Social that Walmart should 'eat the tariffs' and threatening that he'll 'be watching.' Walmart employees allegedly posted price changes on Reddit, including some items that saw an 80 percent increase These are examples of how prices might rise at supermarkets in coming months But Walmart has already been steadily raising some of its prices as suppliers pass on their own higher costs. Rainey said bananas now cost 54 cents a pound, up from 50 cents — an eight percent jump. Retail analysts say that may not sound like much, but if similar increases hit other imported essentials — from produce to clothing, electronics, and home goods — shoppers will feel the pinch fast. Neil Saunders, from Global Data, told 'all categories will be affected by tariffs'. He explained: 'Produce from overseas will be impacted heavily because margins are low and costs need to be passed across.' Meanwhile, Walmart is not alone. revealed two weeks ago that employees at Target had seen big increases in store prices. A Target employee shared a photo as they swapped out a $9.99 price tag on a Heyday brand USB-C cord. The updated price was $17.99, an 80 percent increase. 'It's happening,' the worker wrote, sharing a photo of the price tag update. 'All of Heyday is going up.' A Target employee posted a Reddit while swapping out a price point for another that is 80 percent more expensive In several comments, customers are pointing the finger both at the Trump administration, and at corporate executives for the price hikes. 'I think regardless of tariffs Walmart is capitalizing on the idea that things will be more expensive to pad their profit margins,' one Redditor commented. 'I feel like they did the same thing with the whole COVID thing too.' Before the tariff regime was announced, Walmart said it was already expecting profits to take a hit. In its first quarter earnings call, the company said its customers were starting to show the strain of years of inflation.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Walmart shoppers left stunned after realizing products have secret codes hidden within them
Shoppers have been left stunned after discovering hidden barcodes in Walmart's Great Value brand products. A worker, known as beatsbycait on TikTok, showed off the invisible barcodes with a scanner in a recent video. 'Real ones know almost all great value items have hidden bar codes,' she captioned her clip. The TikToker used the scanner on six different Great Value products, pointing it directly at the middle of each item rather than at a barcode. The tech, which saves shoppers the time spent searching for barcodes on items at self checkout, was originally introduced in 2019, but many shoppers are still finding out about it to this day. 'As someone who worked for Walmart many years, please explain how?,' one TikToker wrote. 'I thought I was tripping,' another Walmart employee responded. Invisible barcodes were also brought in to make it more difficult for shoplifters to steal items by pretending to scan them. The invisible barcodes were first introduced to Walmart branded items in 2019 through the chain's partnership with Digimarc. Digimarc barcodes are invisible to the naked eye, but are printed all over an item enabling it to be easily picked up by a self-checkout scanner. 'It's really cool how it's embedded in the art itself in each layer,' another person commented on the TikTok video. Walmart began using the technology as a way to crack down on shoplifting at self-checkouts. 'It's to stop skip scanning. If they pass it over the scanner in any direction it scans,' another user wrote. 'Walmart is a forward-thinking technology leader with an unwavering focus on customer experience,' said Digimarc CEO Riley McCormack in 2022, when the company said it was extending its partnership with Walmart. 'We are thrilled to expand our partnership with them and look forward to sharing more details about this expansion in the coming months.' Besides invisible barcodes, Walmart has added other gadgets to self-checkout machines in order to crack down on card skimming. The tech, which saves shoppers the time spent searching for barcodes on items at self checkout, was originally brought in at Walmart in 2019 It also unveiled a $9 billion investment in-store makeovers, which is currently in its full rollout. But the company has also been in hot water this month due to the removal of a popular perk and price hikes. The company confirmed its plans to raise prices as the result of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump after meeting with him in April. It also announced earlier this week that around 1,500 US jobs will be slashed due to a restructuring plan being implemented to cut expenses and simplify operations. The layoffs will hit employees who work in its global technology operations, e-commerce fulfillment, and its ad sales division Walmart Connect. In addition to the layoffs, Walmart shuttered its North Carolina office and is relocating workers to main hubs in California and Arkansas.
Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
'Best' supermarket sausages - and it's not Aldi, Morrisons or Asda
Consumer experts at Which? have tried out a variety of sausages to find the best - just in time for the Bank Holiday Budget supermarket Lidl has trounced premium rivals in a major blind taste test of pork sausages – just in time for the Bank Holiday barbecue season. A 65-strong panel of ordinary consumers, independently recruited and blindfolded to branding, tucked into sausages from major retailers and household brands in a test designed to uncover the best bangers Britain has to offer. Three emerged as Best Buys, with Lidl 's Deluxe Pork Sausages not only topping the charts with a score of 77%, but also clinching the Great Value accolade thanks to their modest £2.49 price tag for 400g – just 62p per 100g. Described as 'good looking and succulent', Lidl's sausages won praise across the board. An impressive 80% of tasters rated the meaty flavour as perfect, with two-thirds saying the herb and spice balance hit the mark. Around 75% liked the salt levels, and a similar number were pleased with the texture – judged to be neither too coarse nor too fine. However, they come with a health warning. Two sausages contain 11.5g of saturated fat, more than half the recommended daily limit for women. M&S and Sainsbury's serve up premium picks M&S 's Collection British Outdoor Bred Pork Sausages and Sainsbury's Taste the Difference British Pork Sausages both scored 75%, earning Best Buy status. M&S's offering, at £4.50 for 400g (£1.13 per 100g), was praised by three-quarters of tasters for flavour, juiciness and salt levels. Two-thirds liked the texture, although opinion was split on the seasoning. These were also the joint priciest on test. Sainsbury's sausages, £3 for 400g (75p per 100g), were dubbed excellent all-rounders. More than 70% gave top marks for pork flavour, juiciness, and seasoning. But a third found the appearance too pale. The also-rans Despite a polished reputation, The Black Farmer Premium Pork Sausages (72%) fell just short of Best Buy status. At £3.50 for 400g (88p per 100g), they impressed with juiciness, but a third of testers found the seasoning underwhelming. Asda 's Exceptional Classic Pork Sausages followed closely with 71% – third cheapest at £2.98 for 400g (75p per 100g). Though flavour and texture were applauded, almost half of testers found the seasoning lacking. How the rest of the field stacked up Morrisons The Best Thick Pork Sausages – 70%: Tasty with good aroma, but texture divided opinion. £3.25 (81p/100g). Aldi Specially Selected – 69%: Satisfying texture but a little bland. £2.49 (62p/100g). Co-op Irresistible – 69%: Juicy but pale. £3.60 (90p/100g). The Jolly Hog Proper Porker – 69%: Decent but unremarkable. £4 (100p/100g). Iceland Luxury The Ultimate – 65%: Juicy yet bland and pale. £4 (100p/100g). Waitrose No.1 Free Range – 62%: Juicy but let down by looks and seasoning. £4.50 (113p/100g). Heck 97% Pork Sausages – 54%: The biggest disappointment. Over 60% found the pork flavour too weak and more than half wanted more seasoning. Notably, Heck sausages use beef collagen casings. £3.25 (81p/100g). Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of Home Products and Services, said: 'Sausages are a summer barbecue staple for many, so it's important to pick the right ones that will have your guests queuing up for more. Lidl came out on top for our taste tests, impressing with their juicy texture and meaty flavour. While pricier than Lidl's, M&S and Sainsbury's also dished up impressively succulent sausages.' How the sausages were tested The sausages were blind-tested in April 2025 under controlled conditions at a specialist lab. Participants, chosen to reflect a representative UK demographic, tasted sausages individually in private booths to prevent influence from others, Which? said. Each sausage was scored based on: 50% flavour 20% appearance 15% aroma 15% texture
Business Insider
14-05-2025
- General
- Business Insider
I compared brand-name cereals to Walmart's cheaper generic versions. I'll never buy some pricier options again.
A box of name-brand cereal may not seem like an especially luxurious purchase, but when you're trying to buy enough for a hungry family of four, the cost can add up. Luckily, Walmart offers generic alternatives to practically every popular cereal brand under its Great Value label. These "dupes" tend to be cheaper, and I wanted to see if I could save money on groceries in the future while keeping my 7-year-old and 4-year-old just as satisfied. So, we did blind taste tests to try five famous cereals alongside their respective generic alternatives. Here's how they stacked up, and which were worth the savings. Prices may vary by location. Great Value Honey Nut O's were way cheaper than Honey Nut Cheerios. To start, we compared General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios to Great Value Honey Nut O's. The 10.5-ounce box of Honey Nut Cheerios cost $3.68, or $0.35 an ounce. Walmart's version was significantly cheaper at $1.87 for a 12-ounce box, or $0.16 an ounce. Out of the box, it was fairly easy to tell the difference between the two. The generic O's were a bit larger and had a lighter color than the Honey Nut Cheerios. The brand-name version also appeared to have a shiny, sugary sheen that the generic lacked. Most of us preferred the brand-name Honey Nut Cheerios. Of the five cereal pairs we tasted, these two options seemed the least similar. The generic version was a bit crunchier and a touch less mushy after a few minutes in milk. However, it had a starchy texture that verged on chalkiness. Overall, the General Mills cereal had more honey flavor and a heartier, oaty taste than the generic. My 4-year-old couldn't tell the brand from the generic by taste for most of the cereals we tested. With this one, however, she had no problem distinguishing the two. She actually preferred the generic to the Honey Nut Cheerios, possibly because she doesn't really like the taste of honey. My 7-year-old also had no trouble telling the difference, but he and I both preferred the original. Honey Bunches of Oats seemed to have a better mix of ingredients than the generic alternative. This was actually my first time trying both the Post Honey Bunches of Oats and its generic alternative. I picked up an 18-ounce box of the brand-name version for $4.93, or $0.27 an ounce. The Great Value alternative cost $2.67 for an 18-ounce box, which broke down to $0.15 an ounce. At first glance, I could tell the Honey Bunches of Oats had a better mix of cornflakes and granola. The granola in the Walmart alternative was harder to find and clumped together. I think brand-name Honey Bunches of Oats are worth paying extra for. Here, too, all three of us could consistently tell the difference between the brand name and generic cereals. The Honey Bunches of Oats were distinctly sweeter than the Walmart alternative, which I thought tasted bland and mostly reminiscent of Corn Flakes. In this case, we all preferred the brand-name Honey Bunches of Oats and were surprised by how much we enjoyed them. The flakes were nice and sweet, and the granola added some light crunch. Of the five cereals we tried, this one built the strongest case for paying more for the name brand. We could easily distinguish between Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the Walmart version. Next, we tried General Mills' Cinnamon Toast Crunch against Great Value Cinnamon Crunch. The General Mills version cost $2.97 for a 12-ounce box, which is about $0.25 an ounce. The Great Value option was $2.98 for a larger 20.5-ounce box, or about $0.15 an ounce. This pair was the easiest to distinguish visually among the five cereals we compared. The brand-name offering was noticeably smaller and darker, with "swirls" of cinnamon sugar on each piece. I preferred Walmart's cinnamon cereal. These options also tasted distinctly different to me and my 7-year-old, though my 4-year-old thought they tasted the same. The 7-year-old preferred the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which was a bit sweeter, crunchier, and denser. It held up a little better in milk and didn't get soggy as quickly. In this case, I liked the generic better because it felt airier and less sweet. The Great Value Rice Crisps were much cheaper than Kellogg's Rice Krispies. Next up was Kellogg's Rice Krispies versus Great Value Rice Crisps. The Kellogg's version cost me $4.98 for an 18-ounce box, making each ounce $0.28. I purchased a 12-ounce box of the Walmart version for $1.98, or $0.17 an ounce. I noticed the generic cereal consisted of larger crisps that appeared more yellow than their brand-name counterparts. Kellogg's Rice Krispies were a bit sweeter than the generic alternative. I thought these two cereals tasted very similar. To me, though, the brand name was a touch sweeter, and the generic had a slight aftertaste of cardboard. However, neither of my kids could tell the difference and I probably couldn't either without trying them side-by-side. I preferred the Great Value version for rice-cereal treats. I'm not usually a huge fan of Rice Krispies in a bowl of milk, but I love them in treat form. So, after tasting both cereals, we turned them into bars using marshmallows and butter. The marshmallow flavor was strong enough to negate any difference between the two cereals. The sticky treats tasted almost exactly the same. If I'm shopping at Walmart the next time I want to make a batch, I will definitely go with the generic option to save money. The Great Value Frosted Flakes were significantly cheaper than the Kellogg's version. Though Walmart's generic answer to Kellogg's Frosted Flakes goes by the same name, it represented one of the biggest discounts of the group on a per-ounce basis. The 12-ounce box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cost $3.98, or $0.33 an ounce. The 13.5-ounce Great Value version cost $1.93, or $0.14 an ounce. They looked very similar, though the generic one again appeared slightly more yellow in color. We couldn't tell the difference between the Great Value and brand-name Frosted Flakes. These two cereals tasted almost exactly the same to us: sugary, crunchy at first, and mushy after a couple of minutes in milk. Of the five generic cereals we tried, the Great Value Frosted Flakes were the only ones that we couldn't distinguish from the original by taste. I thought the brand name might have had a slightly more assertive sweetness to it, but I wasn't able to pick it out reliably in our blind taste test. In this case, I think buying the cheaper Walmart version is a no-brainer.
